The life of one of Queensland's outstanding general physicians, Lynn David Walters began in Lowood, in the Brisbane Valley, in the year 1913. His father Frank was a Welsh immigrant and primarily a storekeeper. His mother Ethel was the daughter of an opposition storekeeper and the source of much of Lynn's spiritual strength and love of his fellow man. Her premature death at the age of forty-two was a great blow to him. Lynn's father moved his business from one country town to another and there were always financial constraints. However, he was insistent that his children should strive for a higher educational qualification - "get a ticket". With this in mind Lynn would stay with his grandmother in Brisbane during school term and return to his parents during the holidays. In his memoirs Lynn recalled the strict Methodist upbringing including three long walks to church each Sunday. He attended the Bald Hills State School and then the Brisbane Grammar School where he won a university scholarship in 1929, right in the middle of the Great Depression. He chose to do medicine and, as there was no medical school in Brisbane, he attended the University of Sydney from where he graduated with first class honours.

He was a resident medical officer at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in 1937 and 1938 and he remembered, in particular, his term in medicine with Dr Mark Lidiwill (qv 1) and in surgery with Sir Hugh Poate. In 1939 he spent six months at the Women's Hospital, Crown Street and six months at the Children's Hospital, Camperdown, where he met a Scottish nurse, Mary Carslaw, whom he married in 1940. During the war years from 1940 to 1945, Lynn was one of only two medical registrars at the very busy Brisbane General Hospital where the work load was horrific because of the demands of the armed forces. However, it gave him the basis of his clinical experience and the guidance of Sir Alexander Murphy (qv). In 1945 he was drafted as a physician to the RAAF Base Hospital in Wagga and during that eighteen months he obtained his MD from the University of Melbourne. He was discharged with the rank of flight lieutenant and later did consultant work with the RAAF as a wing commander in the reserve.

On return to Brisbane in 1946 he began private practice as a consultant physician, initially at the Brisbane Clinic (Wickham Terrace), then at 113 Wickham Terrace up until 1980 when he moved his practice to his home at 313 Junction Road, Eagle Junction. His initial visiting hospital appointment was as a senior physician to the Mater Hospital for two years when, because there was no teaching at that hospital, he changed to a junior physician position at the Brisbane General Hospital. This began his long association with what was to become the Royal Brisbane Hospital. He was soon made a senior physician in charge of ward 1F, a position he held with great distinction until 1966 when he resigned at the age of fifty-three. The pressure of a large consultant practice plus his hospital appointment had become too much but he continued to lecture fifth and sixth year medical students once a week. These lectures were very popular and he used his photographic skill to prepare his own slides. He also remained active in practice right up until the time of his death at the age of seventy-seven.

Lynn ("Pappy" Walters to all - including students) was not a committee man, preferring the practice and teaching of medicine. He was a true general physician with a meticulous approach to detail in history taking and physical examination. He brought a refreshing physiological approach to all difficult clinical problems and he gave credit to Professor Lambie (qv 1) of Sydney for pointing him in the right direction. He had a real enthusiasm and zest for teaching and literally hundreds of Queensland graduates must have been influenced by his approach. It is no wonder that many of our present consultant physicians clamoured to work with him during their training.

His private life was secure with a very happy marriage to Mary who took an active interest in his practice as well as the care of their four children. It was marred by the premature death of their eldest, Margaret, a teacher, from malignancy. Robert is an associate professor of mathematics at Sydney University, James is a radiologist and Ruth is a teacher. A strict Christian ethic based on the Methodist Church was a major influence in his life. As he said, "I could never be anything but totally honest - even to the taxation department." His spare time was devoted to his family, church activities and photography. In later years he became interested in radio and obtained a full wireless (Ham) license. His enquiring mind then naturally led him onto the computer world. In short, Queensland medicine was greatly enriched by his life.